Panickanadarkudieruppu is a small village in Tuticorin district of Tamil Nadu.

It is a part of the Tiruchendur assembly constituency. There was a festive air in the village in the morning.

May 8, 2006, was voting day. You could hear the village ladies calling to each other. "Akka (elder sister) when are you going to vote. Take me with you." None of the ladies went alone to vote even though the polling booth was in the village school.

At 9 am there was a long line of voters inside the booth. One old lady did not know how to vote. She could not see the buttons, she said. Another aggressive young lady just went to the machine and pressed her hand on it. The polling officer was shocked.

Five minutes later another old lady refused to touch the blue button. Again the aggressive lady rushed to help her. This time the polling officer was faster. She ran to first block the helper. "You go stand in line, we are here to help," she said. She then helped push the button. In both cases, no one bothered to ask the voter whom she wanted to vote for.

A mobile phone rang. Ponsunder, who is a member of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party and polling agent for the candidate, started talking on the phone right inside the booth. No one knew that it is illegal to use your phone inside the booth. He kept talking loudly as he left the booth.

On the road leading to the polling station, four cars of the ruling party kept bringing in voters. There were two white lines drawn across the road on either side of the booth. You are not allowed to drive cars beyond this Lakshman Rekha. The cars dutifully stopped outside this line.

Bringing voters to the polling booth might be a crime in the cities. In the villages, it’s considered a help to voters particularly the old ones.

Kasiammal admitted that she got Rs 50 to vote. Shivan said that he was promised Rs 150 for three votes. For his wife, his mother and himself. "I have not got the money yet," he complained. Prabhakaran, who was supposed to give the money, said, "I won’t give it to him, he will drink it up, I will give it to his wife."

Suddenly the sky darkened and it came pouring down. The rain lasted for 45 minutes. People in the booth stayed inside and those at home stayed there. People started coming in only after the summer storm subsided.

Murugesapandian, the village panchayat vice president, came in complaining. "This rain and wind has knocked down a few banana plants." Everyone else was happy with the rain that brought a respite from the heat wave.

Kaliyugapandian came to vote with his wife and daughter. As he too had a sight problem he told his daughter to vote for him. Nobody objected.

At 4 pm in one booth only 245 votes had been cast out of a total of 643 votes.

Gnanadurai, a voting agent, said, "What to do? Most of our villagers are in the cities." A boy sitting under a tree was very sad. He was saying, "In the past we could find people to vote for these un-polled votes, this election that’s not possible, proof of identity is a must." The boy was 18 years old. You wonder how many elections he has seen.

Mariammal came to vote looking very dirty. She was returning when another lady asked her if she had had a bath. "I came straight from the fields to vote. They asked me for my Id Card and voting slip, nobody asked if I had had a bath," was the reply.

The head constable from the neighbouring police station was very happy. "This is such a peaceful village. It’s a pleasure to be on duty here," he exclaimed.

While in one booth there was no activity, in another booth there was a line till 5 pm. Madasamy explained that this particular booth catered to an area of field workers. They had all come after going to work in the morning. The polling officer issued slips to all those who were already inside the booth and told the cops not to allow anyone else in as it was 5 pm.

At dusk the villagers were discussing how much money had been given. The village priest said that they had come to his house the night before, but he had refused their money. Most said that they had got Rs 50.

Vijaya, who belongs to a self help group, said that her whole group had got a round amount. When they divided that, each got Rs 110.

Nobody admitted whether they had voted for the party they accepted money from. "That’s a secret," they said with a knowing smile.

-- Ganesh Nadar